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April 9, 2017 - Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion
Mass Schedule
Sunday: 7 PM
Blue & Gold Room
Tuesday: 5 PM
Reflection Room
Thursday: 5 PM
Newman House
Sacrament of
Reconciliation
Sunday:
5:30-6:30PM
Center for Spiritual Life
Saint Spotlight: Our Lady of Lourdes
February 11 commemorates the apparition of Mary in 1858 to St. Bernadette
Soubirous in a small grotto outside Lourdes, France. At the time, St. Bernadette only knew her
as “the lady” since she did not know her name. When Bernadette asked for a name, the lady
responded that she was “the Immaculate Conception.” The dogma of Mary’s Immaculate
Conception (that she was conceived without original sin) had just been proclaimed by Pope
Pious IX three years earlier. The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes has been celebrated since 1907,
and Lourdes continues to be an important site for pilgrimage, with more than 7,000 reported
miracles and close to 70 miraculous healings confirmed by church authorities. Our Lady of
Lourdes is the patron saint of bodily ills. “For those who believe in God, no explanation is
necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.” — from the film, The Song of Bernadette
1.) The Marion apparitions and healings at Lourdes are considered private revelations and not a
required belief for Catholics. What do you think about them? Do you think that God performs
miracles in the world today?
2.) What’s the most miraculous thing that has happened in your own life?
Thursday: 4-5PM
Newman House
Also available before or
after Mass or by
appointment.
Sunday Readings
Matthew 21:1-11
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20,
23-24
Philippians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14-27:66
or 27:11-54
Weekly Reflection Questions:
1.) In the psalm, Jesus questions why God has abandoned him. What can we do to trust in God
during times of hardship? How can trusting in God teach us valuable lessons about how to love
God and others?
2.) The second reading talks about how Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a slave. What
can Jesus tell us about being humble? How can we relate to Jesus, as he was fully human just as
much as he was fully divine?
3.) What new insights does the gospel reading give us about the importance of the sacrament of
the Eucharist? As Jesus sits and eats with others, what does he teach us about community?
Please Note:
Mass will not be celebrated on Thursday, April 13 nor Easter Sunday, April 16. Pasta Night will not
be held on Holy Thursday, April 13. Local parishes for Holy Thursday, Good Friday & Easter:
St. Julie Billiart Parish, 494 Slocum Road, No. Dartmouth ( www.saintjulies.org for schedule)
St George Parish, 12 Highland Ave, Westport (www.saintgeorgechurchwestport.org for schedule)
Facebook:
umassdcatholic
Twitter: @umassdcatholic
Instagram: Umassdcatholics
Join Our 2017 Relay for Life Team:
At Relay For Life events, communities come
together to honor cancer survivors, remember
loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease
that has already taken too much. Relay for Life
teams camp out overnight and take turns walking
or running around a track or path at UMD. Relay
events are up to 24 hours in length and, because
cancer never sleeps, each team is asked to have at
least one participant on the track at all times. Join
our team and walk or run with us on April 22nd!
Adoration & Applebees:
Our next Adoration & Applebees night will be
Monday, May 1st! Join us for a night of worship
and fellowship with God and with friends. We’ll
gather at 5PM for Eucharistic Adoration in the
Reflection Room, where we'll encounter our savior
in the bread of life. We will participate in the rich
& beautiful traditions of the Church through
various prayer forms such as the rosary, Liturgy of
the Hours, or contemplation and meditation. After
Benediction, we'll move to Applebee’s for an
opportunity to enjoy good food & good company.
Download the New Campus Ministry App:
Our UMD Campus Ministry App, a great resource
for our Catholic Community, is available for
iPhone and Android smart phones! Scan the QR
Code on the front cover and we can better
communicate with you throughout the week. The
app provides daily Mass readings, Catholic news
and prayers, convenient prayer and Confession
reminders, our bulletins and more. We hope this
app will help foster a stronger Catholic life at
UMD and better engage the New Evangelization.
Newman House Pasta Nights:
Our non-renowned chef prepares a free pasta
dinner on Thursday evenings at the Newman
House. Join us for Mass at 5pm followed by an
evening of relaxation, conversation and dinner.
Pray the Rosary:
The Newman Catholic Student Association will
host a Campus Rosary on Monday and Wednesday
afternoons at 5pm during the spring semester in
the Reflection Room located on the 2nd floor of
the campus center. All Catholic and non-Catholic
students, faculty and staff are invited to join us.
Never prayed a Rosary or are a little rusty? That's
OK - we will teach you. Contact Deacon Frank for
more information. Rosaries will be provided.
Companion on the Journey of Faith:
The goal of a spiritual director is to help you
recognize how the Holy Spirit works in your life.
Deepening one's relationship with God is the
emphasis by developing an active, vital prayer life.
While a spiritual director can and should offer
advice, you are always free to make your own
decisions and choices. Contact Deacon Frank or
Fr. David for more information.
Catholic Campus Ministry
Center for Religious & Spiritual Life
Campus Center Room 202
(508)999-8872
Newman House
359 Old Westport Rd.
(774)202-2274
Campus Ministry Team
Fr. David Frederici
[email protected]
Deacon Frank Lucca
[email protected]
Dear Friends,
We are now in Holy Week, meaning in a
few days Lent is over! We can all go back to
eating our cheeseburgers on Friday, once again
eating chocolate, drinking coffee or whatever we
gave up for Lent. However, the end of Lent is a
greater celebration than ending our fast. We enter
into the most sacred days of the Christian life, the
Sacred Triduum culminating in the Easter
celebration.
The Resurrection is God’s victory over sin
and death and results in the promise of eternal
life with God. His love, an invitation to a
relationship with Him, offers us the chance to
share in the fruits of His victory. Sin will no
longer enslave us; death will no longer be our
end. Love prevails. In addition, the Resurrection
confirms Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.
This joy in the Resurrection and the
promise of heaven becomes the central focus of
the life of the early Christians. They cannot
contain their joy. They willingly share their joy,
faith and love with family, friends, neighbors and
anyone who is interested. At the same time they
continue to grow in their love and faith. This joy
and hope is so great many are able to persevere
in faith even to the point of death.
We, too, are called to live the same joy,
faith and love. We are entrusted with the same
mission as the early Christians. The same graces
available to them are available to us. The same
Spirit dwelling within them, dwells within us.
From the very beginning of the Church,
we have gathered as ecclesia, that is as the
Assembly of God, for the Eucharist. This time was
first and foremost an opportunity to worship God.
It also was the greatest tool in helping the
Christian community nurture faith and love. It
provided the support, enthusiasm and
encouragement needed to witness to the
resurrection and to become evangelizers. The
same is true today.
The idea of being an evangelizer makes
us squirm a bit. We think of the person on a soap
box by the Campanile yelling condemnations at
people walking by. We think of televangelists or
the people going door to door. However, that is
not what Christ called us to do.
We are called to nurture faith, to
celebrate it and to share it with others in a loving
way. This happens when parents teach the faith to
their children and model faith. It happens when
one answers questions of curiosity from friends
and neighbors. It happens when we seek to live
the Gospel way of life.
The negative understanding of
evangelization has led us to circle the wagons.
Instead of being centers for evangelization, we
have become warehouses or museums of faith.
This week Bishop da Cunha will release
a pastoral letter called Rebuilding in Faith and
Hope. It addresses the challenges before us and
encourages us to recommit ourselves to the
mission we were baptized and confirmed into.
Copies of the Letter will be made available later
this week.
Often pastoral planning is seen as a
response to the issue of the lack of priests.
Certainly there is a challenge there. We are
looking at the possibility of being only 50-60
priests to care for 80+ parishes in about 3 years.
However, we aren’t facing a crisis in
priestly vocations as much as we are facing a
crisis in living the baptismal call. All of us have a
role to play in making our parishes (and campus
ministries) vibrant communities of faith and hope.
At Sunday Mass we took time to
complete a survey. If you haven’t turned it in yet,
please do so. Your input is invaluable in helping
us make sure that Catholic Campus Ministry has
the supports and resources our Catholic students,
faculty and staff have in order to grow in faith
and live the Gospel each day.
Fr. David
www.umassdcatholics.com